A. J. Foyt
Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr., or as he is universally known as in motorsports circles, A. J. Foyt (born January 16, 1935), is a retired American automobile racing driver. He raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes USAC Champ cars and midget cars. He raced stock cars in NASCAR and USAC. He won several major sports car racing events. He holds the all-time USAC career wins record with 159 victories, and the all-time American championship racing career wins record with 67. He is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 (which he won four times), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Foyt won the International Race of Champions all-star racing series in 1976 and 1977. Foyt's success has led to induction in numerous motorsports halls of fame. Since his retirement from active racing, he has owned A. J. Foyt Enterprises, which has fielded teams in the CART, IRL, and NASCAR. Early life Foyt was born in Houston, Texas. He attended Pershing and Hamilton middle schools and Lamar and San Jacinto high schools, but he dropped out to become a mechanic. Driving career Midget car career Championship car careerHe started his USAC career in a midget car at the 1956 Night before the 500 in Anderson, Indiana. His first midget car win was at a 100 lap event at Kansas City in 1957, and finished seventh in the season points standings. He left midget cars after the 1957 season to drive in sprint cars and Championship Car. He did occasionally compete in midget car events. He won the 1960 and 1961 Turkey Night Grand Prix, the first two years that it was held at Ascot Park. He won the 1961 Hut Hundred after starting last, and finished seventh in National Midget points that year. He won the 1970 Astro Grand Prix, an event that he promoted in his hometown of Houston. He ended his career with 20 midget car feature wins. Championship car career Also, in 1964 Foyt won a record 10 of 14 races en route to his championship. Ford-powered entries were widely expected to dominate the 1964 Indianapolis 500. Discussions between Ford officials and Foyt (who had a stock car contract with Ford at the time) took place early in the month of May about the possibility of Foyt taking over the third (backup) Team Lotus-Ford. Foyt wanted the use of the car for the entire month, but Lotus team owner Colin Chapman was reluctant to give up the reserve car in case something happened to team drivers Jim Clark and Dan Gurney, so discussions ended and Foyt stayed with his reliable, well-sorted Offenhauser-engined roadster. When the two fastest Lotus-Fords, driven by Jim Clark and Bobby Marshman, fell out of the race with mechanical problems, and Parnelli Jones was knocked out when his fuel tank exploded during a pit stop, Foyt was left alone at the front of the field, and cruised home to win his second Indianapolis 500. The race is remembered for the fiery second-lap crash that claimed the lives of Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs. Foyt did not learn of the fate of his two friends until he reached victory lane and was handed a newspaper with a headline announcing the tragedy. In 1966 at the Milwaukee, WI. August 200-mile (320 km) Championship Car race his rear engined Lotus pavement car was not at the track so Foyt unloaded the Offenhauser engined dirt track car he had won the 100-mile (160 km) race with at Springfield, Il. the previous day sprayed the mud off the car, installed pavement tires and a set-up for the one mile (1.6 km) oval. He received permission to take two extra warm up laps during qualifying as he had no time for practice and then qualified the car on the pole, led the race for 18 out of 200 laps but then had to stop for a new rear tire, and finished 2nd to Gordon Johncock driving a rear engined Gerhardt-Offy indy car. In the 1967 Indianapolis 500, Parnelli Jones' STP-Paxton Turbocar was expected to easily defeat the field of piston engines. Jones lapped the field, but his car expired with three laps remaining, and Foyt inherited the lead. But as he drove down the back straightaway on the last lap, Foyt suddenly remembered an odd premonition that had struck him the night before, when he wondered aloud what would happen in the event of a big last-lap accident. As Foyt moved through Turn 3 on the 200th lap, he slowed down. A few hundred yards ahead of him, Carl Williams spun out as he exited Turn 4, triggering a five-car front-stretch accident right in front of Foyt. Traveling at no more than 100 mph, Foyt threaded his way through the wreckage and safely took the checkered flag. The race took two days to complete when rain stopped the race on the 18th lap on the first day. In the 1977 Indianapolis 500, Foyt ran out of fuel, and had to make up around 32 seconds on Gordon Johncock. Foyt made up 1.5 to 2 seconds per lap by turning up his turbo boost, which risks destroying the engine. Johncock's own engine expired just as Foyt had closed to within eight seconds back after both drivers' final pit stops, and Foyt passed for the win. He won the Indianapolis 500 4 times, in 1961, 1964, 1967, 1977. He was the first driver to do so. The feat has since been matched byAl Unser (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987) and Rick Mears (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991). Of his 67 career championship car race victories, twelve (12) were won at Trenton (NJ) Speedway. Foyt also won the Indycar Series 7 times; a record that still stands. In a 1990 CART race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Foyt was involved in a serious crash that damaged his legs and feet severely. He would return the following year for the 1991 Indianapolis 500 to qualify 2nd. Stock car career USAC Stock Car He was the champion in USAC's stock car in 1968, 1978, and 1979. He finished second in 1963 and 1969, and third in 1970. NASCAR Foyt only needed ten races to get his first NASCAR victory. Richard Petty dominated the 1964 Firecracker 400 until he went out with engine problems. Foyt swapped the lead with Bobby Isaac for the final 50 laps of the summer event at the Daytona International Speedway. Foyt passed Isaac on the final lap to win the race. In January 1965, Foyt qualified and ran in the front of the pack most of the day with Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones in the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside. Parnelli retired with mechanical issues, leaving Gurney and Foyt to contest the lead. Late in the race, dueling with Gurney, Foyt spun. His car refired, and he charged through the field in an attempt to regain lost positions. After running hard to catch leader Gurney, Foyt's brakes failed entering Turn 9 at the end of Riverside's mile-long, downhill back straight. Foyt turned the car into the infield at more than 100 mph, and the car tumbled violently end-over-end several times. The track doctor at Riverside International Raceway pronounced Foyt dead at the scene of the severe crash, but fellow driver Parnelli Jones revived him after seeing movement. Foyt suffered severe chest injuries, a broken back, and a fractured ankle. Footage of his flipping #00 Ford, owned by Holman Moody, is featured in the final scene of the movie Redline 7000. Foyt ran out of gas near the end of the 1971 Daytona 500, and Petty passed him for the win. Foyt again had the car to beat in the 1972 Daytona 500, but this time succeeded in a dominating performance. Only three drivers led during the race. Foyt won the 1971 and 1972 races at the Ontario Motor Speedway for Wood Brothers Racing. The track was shaped like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 1972 race was his last NASCAR win. Career summary *Foyt drove in the Indianapolis 500 for 35 consecutive years, winning it four times (the first of only three to do so). *Foyt is the only driver to win the Indy 500 in both front and rear-engined cars, winning twice with both configurations. *Foyt is the only driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500 the same year (1967). *He is the only person to record victories in the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 stock car race, the 24 Hours of Daytona (twice, with co-driver Bob Wollek), the 24 Hours of Le Mans international sports car endurance race in Le Mans, France, as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring (his last major professional win, in 1985, with co-driver Bob Wollek). Foyt had never competed in European sports-car racing or driven at LeMans prior to his 1967 winning performance in a Ford Mk. IV co-driven by Dan Gurney. He reportedly only got 10 laps of pre-race practice on the fast, intimidating tree-lined course. When Gurney overslept and missed a driver change in the middle of the night, Foyt was forced to double-stint and wound up driving nearly 18 hours of the 24-hour race. While being sprayed with champagne on the victory podium, he is reported to have asked, "Do I win Rookie Of The Year?" *He also has 41 USAC Stock Car wins and 50 Sprint Car, Midget, and Dirt Champ Car wins. *He has won 12 total major driving championships in various categories. *His USAC wins tally is a record 138 (The late Rich Vogler is second with 132.) *Foyt won the 1976 and 1977 IROC championships. *Foyt won seven NASCAR races, including the 1972 Daytona 500. *Foyt holds the closed course speed record driving the Oldsmobile Aerotech at an average speed of over 250 mph (400 km/h). *Despite having won more USAC sanctioned events than any other driver Foyt never won a CART sanctioned event. Awards *Foyt was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2000. *Foyt was named to NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers list in 1998. *He was named to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1990. *He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as the only open wheel driver in the first class of 1989. *He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1988. Indianapolis 500 records Foyt has numerous career records at the Indianapolis 500: the first of to date three drivers to win a record four times, the most consecutive and career starts (35), most races led (13), most times led during the career (39), and most competitive laps and miles during a career (4,909 laps, 12,272.5 miles). In the 1961 Indianapolis 500 Foyt won over Eddie Sachs with a lead of 8.28 seconds, the second closest finish in Indianapolis history at the time. As of November 2011, Foyt stands as only the third-oldest living winner of the Indianapolis 500 (Parnelli Jones and Bobby Unser are older), but the longest-ago living winner (1961). Car owner While an active driver, Foyt entered into a longtime partnership with Kalamazoo, Michigan businessman Jim Gilmore, and raced under the Gilmore-Foyt Racing name for many years.Main article: A. J. Foyt Enterprises After retiring as a driver, he continued his involvement in racing as a car owner of A. J. Foyt Enterprises in the CART series, then the Indy Racing League (IRL) and NASCAR. Scott Sharp took a share of the 1996 Indy Racing League (IRL) title driving for Foyt while Kenny Bräck won the 1998 IRL title, also in a Foyt car. Bräck won the 1999 Indianapolis 500 in Foyt's car, putting Foyt in the winner's circle at Indy for the fifth time. The current driver for his IRL team, A. J. Foyt Enterprises, is Mike Conway. On June 7, 1997, Foyt (as an owner) was involved in an incident that helped shape the history of the Indy Racing League and added to his reputation as a man of little patience. One of his drivers, Billy Boat, had been declared the winner of the inaugural IRL race at Texas Motor Speedway that had been held that night, and his other driver, Davey Hamilton, had come in second. However, Dutch driver Arie Luyendyk disputed Boat's win, claiming that he was in the lead when a scoring error by USAC (who had scored all IRL races up until that time) gave Boat the checkered flag. When Luyendyk entered victory lane after the race to confront TMS general manager Eddie Gossage about the finish uttering obscenities, an irate Foyt approached Luyendyk from behind and slapped and shoved him into tulips (ironically given Luyendyk's Dutch nationality). Luyendyk then requested a review of the race; a few days later, USAC reversed its position and declared Luyendyk the winner; Foyt kept the victory lane-awarded trophy. Following the controversy, the IRL relieved USAC of the scoring duties for its events. Family Foyt is the grandfather of A. J. Foyt IV. Foyt is the grandfather and adoptive father of Larry Foyt. He is also the godfather of driver John Andretti. When not busy with the racing season, A.J. Foyt likes to spend time at the family Ranch, The Foyt Ranch located in Hockley, Texas. The Foyts are also, via marriage, part of the ownership group of the Indianapolis Colts. A. J. Foyt IV is married to the daughter of Colts owner Jim Irsay. Category:Racecar Drivers Category:Drivers